Maelstrom
by Personality Test
Summary: Year after year, flowers look alike. Year after year, people are not the same. Red, Green, Kris/Lyra.


"There you are, Red."

Snapping out of his reverie, he turns around and sees Green, still with the same apathetic expression, albeit slightly on the annoyed side as usual. He supposes the climb is grueling, though he can't remember much of it anymore. Is the top supposed to be on floor seventeenth or nineteenth? Red shakes his head and decides to shelve the thought for later - he can always ask Green when his friend's finished with the mandatory complaining in the first ten minutes. He'd look at Red with strange eyes - who doesn't remember where they are after nearly half a year camped on it? - but he'll answer, and frankly that's all Red needs.

He survives through the complaints because it's no different from the usual. Green'd go on and on about how he manages to stay here without turning to an obedient little ice sculpture - at least a statue won't be able to protest when they lug him down the mountain back to the world of the living. And then he'll come closer and stop ranting because he's freezing, especially with that excuse of a jacket and they will have to make a fire to keep warm.

"Nothing much happens these days, really." Nothing much happens every time Green comes to visit. "Nobody comes to challenge me, and once in a blue moon someone does, Pidgeot kicks their asses in half a second. This Gym Leader gig is much less battling and much more legal responsibilities than I thought, you know?"

Red knows. Of course he knows. Being a champion firsthand and staying on this mountain usually is an eye-opener, letting him think over things he took for granted years ago. However, Red doesn't tell his friend all of that - he merely nodded, and Green lets it go because it's Green, and they light a fire with Charizard's Flamethrower and settle in for a cold evening.

After dinner - whatever Green managed to grab before flying to Mt. Silver - Green dangles a bag full of canned goods in front of his eyes and relish in the moment as Red's eyes follow the bag's every movement. In his defense, Venusaur can only sustain him for so long and it's not like he can go anywhere to get food; Red stays here all the time, fearing that a challenger will arrive while he's gone and disappear in a moment's notice.

Green laughs a little bit mockingly, but neither of them mind because it's them and they don't care about that kind of trivial stuff.

"Set up a system, with a hologram and a trained team for battling while you're busy, like me. Make a gym up here, call it the final Gym – heck, I won't mind one bit – and have fun watching rookies try to claw their way to your spot. It helps pass the time."

His noncommittal shrug seems to tell the green-eyed man everything he needs to know, so he stops midway through his (one-sided) talk. They both know that even though he trained his Pokemon to this level, he's not specialized in training. Red likes the thrill of battling, and even though anyone can say the same about themselves, he just knows that his drive to battle is something else. Green can train teams and build holograms for the League and their mother, but Red simply can't do that. He has no choice but to stay.

"Well," Green says, after a moment of silence barring the harsh winds relentlessly blowing outside. "You want the food, you know what to do. This time, I'm definitely going to beat you up!"

The light from the Pokeballs blinds the dark cave and they battle, just like old times.

* * *

"Something interesting's happened, you know." Green says casually as he slides off Pidgeot's back, and Red raises an eyebrow. It certainly is quite unusual for Green to tell him that.

Without waiting for an answer - because that's how the both of them operate - Green continues. "Have you heard of the Johto Champ? That twelve-year-old with blue hair? She's defeating Kanto leaders left and right these days. Even Sabrina admits she lost to that girl pretty quickly, and she's headed for me any moment now. You too, not like I'll ever let her do that if I could. You know that, right?"

He nods, just slightly, but the nod alone is enough as Green takes a Pokeball out of his belt, and the blinding white light hides his light smile, even just for a moment.

Green's letter is short, with only two words scrawled on a piece of paper.

_I lost_.

He tears it to shreds and watches them burn in the red flames with furrowed brows that turns into a satisfied smile.

* * *

She comes in a cold morning, when the storm is particularly vicious and there are still traces of glittering diamond dust on cold hard ground.

"Hello? Is anyone here?"

Red is a little startled and so is his trusty Pikachu, but a moment passes and they understand and Red turns around to greet his challenger – the first one in a long, long time.

"You're him, aren't you? The champion Green told me about?" Her hair is blue and offhandedly he wonders how she has hair that color, or maybe how it manages to stick in that direction, but shelves the thought for later. There's always time.

"What's your name?" She asks timidly, but he doesn't answer. He feels weird to be talking after so long in solitude, and the meager number of challengers he had before didn't fancy talking. They were too eager for the title of Champion, the strongest Trainer. He's never had to talk before, so why now?

A few minutes of awkward silence passes, and apparently the girl decides that waiting for an answer will achieve practically nothing, because she takes out a Pokeball from her backpack. The adrenaline, the familiar sensation, the thrill of a Pokemon battle – everything he had ever known pales in comparison with this brilliant flash of light.

* * *

She lost.

She recalls her final Pokemon, a remarkably strong Meganium. It was a hard battle – she proves more of a challenge than Green, but maybe it's just because he knows too much about his friend's team and battling style already – but in the end, he is victorious. Like how he has always been.

"It was a good battle." The girl was trying to be strong, but Red can tell she is just a little bit devastated; at least she is braver than some of the bumbling fools who didn't put up much of a fight. "Thanks – I learned a lot from this battle. You really are the strongest, aren't you?"

He doesn't answer.

She looks disappointed at his apathetic expression, but says nothing. She must have gotten used to Green by now, because she just smiles and left with a promise to come back the following week. He brushes it off because except for Green who comes once a month, no one really has the strength and determination to make this grueling climb. Red's pretty sure the top is on the twentieth floor, but he isn't really sure – maybe it has been floor seventeenth or nineteenth all this time. He decides to shelve the thought – he can always ask Green later.

* * *

"There you are, Red." And this time he's way, way more startled, because Green didn't sound a bit like that and he is sure that his Pokemon can't talk.

He turns around, a little bit stunned, but she can't see it because she keeps that same smile on her face and not yet a hint of disappointment.

"I came back, just like I said I would. And I brought some food, too. Thought you might be hungry."

He nods fervently, eyes not leaving the food and she laughs, a laugh that echoes around the cave, one that leaves him breathless just for a moment.

The moment passes and he motions her to sit down by the crackling fire - she must be freezing. She sits down after a moment of hesitation.

"Green says you can talk, it's just that you'd prefer not to. Won't you forget how to talk eventually?" She suddenly asks.

He doesn't know how to answer that question, so he settles for a half-nod, half-shrug. Yes, he can forget how to speak, yes, he probably has forgotten how to converse or banter like normal people and no, he doesn't care about that. Her flat smile tells him she didn't understand what he's trying to say, and Red deflates a little bit at that. She isn't Green, after all.

"I suppose you don't mind not being able to talk," she decides after an awkward silence. "Do you like being here? Just, well..., just nod or shake, if you prefer not to talk."

He nods his head, just slightly, and she smiles.

"Oh, I haven't introduced myself. My name is Crystal, but my friend calls me Kris. Nice to meet you." Crystal extends a hand and he tentatively shakes it, feeling a bit unsure - she's right, he really is forgetting manners and etiquette. After all, Green never has been one for those technicalities.

Red retracts his hand with a little more fluster than he's comfortable with. Even though Crystal is a little stunned, she doesn't say a thing and smiles, like she's finally figured him out without him saying even a word. She doesn't say anything, however, and they spend the rest of dinner in silence.

* * *

"Hey, Red, how are you doing?"

He turns around and there she is with a grin on her face and a plastic bag bulging with food dangling off her gloved hand - and he loves her for that.

"You know the deal - you want dinner, you'll have to win it. Let's go." He doesn't really want the food, and she knows it - they just want to battle, because that thrill, that excitement is one thing that the two Champions have in common.

The light blinds both of them as their Pokemon burst forth into the battle, but she sees his smile through the whiteness and her wide eyes in return is quite enough, if only for this moment.

* * *

He feels a little bit worried.

Today is the first day of the month - he doesn't see any sign of the moon, so it must be. He is never wrong when it comes to guessing what day is it based on the appearance of the moon. And the night sky today is particularly dark with no sign of a light anywhere, so dark that he'd have to light his lantern because he can't see anything otherwise.

Kris is supposed to be here, like she always is on this day. She'd come with his 'allowance' for the month until he uses all the food up - Red has really gotten used to the feeling of delving in the stash she brought him for food every day - and Green trudges up with his food delivery near the end of the month, his snark mode on and a string of complaints at the ready. Naturally, this is how things are supposed to be.

It's no longer natural, because he's been waiting for a while, a good, long while, and Kris still isn't here.

She must have gotten caught up in her Champion duties, he tells himself because if anyone knows how tedious those kind of things can be, and he doesn't blame her for being late. Rather, he'd count himself as lucky for having her sparing a thought on a hermit in between all her work.

Red shuts the light off and decides to turn in early; even if she does come with the regular sustenance in hand at eleven - because her work is just that tiring and _unbelievable_ more than he could've thought - he'd have already lost his appetite.

Pidgeot comes to deliver his food with a scrawled letter from Green, saying he is swamped with new challengers and legal work.

Three short lines. He didn't even bother to write a single complaint.

He scribbles a few quick lines on the back of the paper, asking if Kris is busy too and maybe that's why she hasn't come to visit lately. No condolences, no sympathy for the work, because that's the last thing both of them needs. To others, it just looks weird.

Green's reply isn't as swift - it takes a week for Pidgeot to deliver instead of the regular three days, and Red thinks it's understandable. Busy as he is, it must be.

_Your first attempt at a joke, and you choose this? Who's Kris? _The letter reads, and Red doesn't understand. Why doesn't Green know about her? He's the one who introduced Kris to him in the first place.

A corner of his mind analyzes the letter, note the mocking tone, the confusion, the haste in Green's usually neat handwriting, but Red doesn't listen the way he used to. He re-reads the line over and over until he's sure he can memorize every dot, every faded stain in a single word, and it occurs to him, a reminder, that Green doesn't tell lies.

Thick silence engulfs him, and suddenly the wind outside his cave roars in his ears and the blizzard turns this place colder than he's ever known.

* * *

"There you are, Red. Listen, there's been something strange lately..." Green says one day as he gets off Pidgeot's back, and Red raises his brows just slightly. The last time something strange happen sure was a long time ago, so long that he didn't remember what exactly happened. It must not have been very notable, then.

"The new Johto Champ, the one who kicked Lance's ass the other week - remember? She's been defeating Kanto leaders left and right. Blaine lost to her Meganium single-handedly, and he's been complaining about it these days. She's heading for you next, but she'll have to go through me first. I'm not telling you I'll lose or anything, but there's no way I can underestimate this girl. All I'm saying is, be prepared, yeah?"

He nods.

* * *

Green's letter is short, with only two words that strikes him more than anything else.

_I lost_.

Red tears the paper to pieces and watches as cold winds blow the white shreds out of his sight.

"Hello? Mister Champion? Are you there?" Her voice echoes in his solitary hideout and Red frowns because his ears hurt, having gone so long without any kind of loud noise save the constant snowstorm.

"Hello? Is anyone... Oh, there you are. You're...Red, right? Green told me."

The girl looks particularly...colorful for his monochromatically adjusted eyes. Her hair is tied in brown twin tails, and offhandedly he wonders how she manages to keep it that way. He frowns behind the hat, but decide to wait. There's always time for questions after the battle. The thing that strikes his chords, however, is that she looks familiar, like they've met somewhere before. It simply isn't possible. He'd surely remember a person like her, a girl with weird clothes and a huge mushroom - or is it marshmallow? - hat.

Red shakes his head and tries to focus on the matter at hand - fashion is not one of his top priorities right now.

"It's okay, Green told me you'd prefer not to talk. I guess I'll have to do all the talking, then. Umm... I'm here for a battle. Are...are you ready?"

A part of him feels annoyance - surely Green has better things to do than gossiping about him to every challenger ever? - but the other part feels utter disappointment. She's like other challengers after all - a bumbling little fool. It's an easy win nonetheless, but he feels sad because he won't ever have another worthy opponent if this keeps on going.

He still battles, but the thrill is nothing like it used to be.

* * *

She lost.

She recalls her final Pokemon, a surprisingly strong Meganium, with a pout on her face. She proves more of a challenge than Green, but Red finds himself knowing all her strategies and battle style - he wonders why. He's never even seen a Meganium before, much less battle one.

"You won, I guess." The pout is firmly held on her face. "But I'm not giving up! I'll come back again, and I'll beat you for sure!"

She leaves, and he breathes a sigh of relief as the cave quiets down again, just the way it is supposed to be.

* * *

"Heya, Red!" She yells and he frowns some more, because the cheery shout reverberates and turns into a cacophony that deafens him for a moment.

"Look, I'm back! See? I even brought some food. Green says you're here year-round, so I figure you're hungry. Hope you're not the picky type." She slings the bag off her shoulder and hands it to him - it's packed with canned food, something that looks remotely like a misshapen chocolate cake slice, and -

Red holds up the three ice cream cones with the closest thing to contempt that he can muster.

"Oh, that? It's ice cream. They say ice cream in winter is better than in summer - I just wanna try it out for once. Would you like one, too?"

Without warning, she snatches a cone from her bag and unwraps one. "Here's yours!"

He looks at his ice cream - apparently she gave him a chocolate, which is a far better choice than the strawberry she's munching on. Thank Arceus.

"I nagged Green for three days straight until he agreed to talk, you know." She waves her hand as she talks, and suddenly his annoyance towards Green evaporates and turns into pity. His difficulties on this mountain must be nothing compared to Green's. Red makes a mental note to make it up for his friend later.

"He says you don't like to talk, you mostly just nod and shake your head. You absolutely hate strawberries and RageCandyBar, you prefer lime and something else - I tuned him out after that. I got you some of those, hope you like them."

She is rambling on and on, but Red finds that he doesn't mind. He closes his eyes and relish in the moment, the feeling of someone talking to him about trivial stuff and what kind of food he likes and not about his title, for once. Someone other than Green.

He smiles just a little bit and her wide grin in return seems more brilliant than any light imaginable.

* * *

Green arrives on the top of Mt. Silver, Lyra quickly following after him.

Red found out about her name in the third visit, which might or might not have involved some cherry punch that turned out to be Sherry whiskey. She was smashed after two drinks, he wisely decided to stop before things escalate further than slightly tipsy on his part. They crossed their hearts never to speak to anyone about this incident ever again.

Well, at least he can refer to her by her name and not 'that girl'. The only positive thing in a string of events he'd rather not remember.

Green snarks a little bit because he's still bitter over Lyra's attempt to wheedle information out of him, Lyra has her all too familiar strawberry flavored ice cream cone in her hands and he keeps having to dodge to avoid getting a faceful of the stuff. He sits there and watches them banter silently, feeling a little happy himself.

And then they have to leave, a few hours later, because Green has a gym and Lyra has Champion duties to attend to, and Lyra tries to get Green to drop her off at the Johto League and the man grudgingly agrees after another banter, and he allows himself a small grin.

"...See you next month, okay?"

His voice is hoarse after months of silence and it doesn't sound like him at all, but it's enough. Green looks flabbergasted, as does Lyra, but they laugh as Pidgeot flies away.

He keeps the smile on his face and returns to his hideout, somewhere with happy memories – somewhere that now feels remotely like home.

.

.

* * *

A/N: One of the weirdest stories I've ever written, straying pretty far from my version of the Golden Trio (God, Silver, Crystal). This is supposed to be game-verse, of course, with Kris' disappearance and replacement, though Green is a little more talkative and more mellow compared to his game counterpart. Oh well, I like this version better anyway xD


End file.
